Title: Four times Emily held a child in front of Morgan – and one time she didn't
Author: Dri
Ratings: PG
Characters/Pairings: Emily/Morgan friendship; Morgan/Reid; Rossi/Prentiss
Spoilers: Through the series; future fic
Summary: Emily, Morgan and babies through the years.
Author's notes: There would be no fic at all without the help of my betas, Ana and Kelly, who endured my changing of sentences and whole paragraphs without giving up on me. Girls, thanks for the patience, and for guiding me through this. You guys rock! Also, thanks Moon ( such a dear! ) for the last minute Italian translation.
Any remaining mistakes are mine because these ladies are awesome!
Feedback: Reviews will be cherished!
Disclaimer: They belong to CBS, and I'm not making any money with this fic.
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The First Time
Emily had still been on probation at the BAU the first time she and Derek had joined forces to comfort a child.
The shooting happened because the stepfather the BAU had been after, a murderer on the run, wouldn't drop the gun pointed at the junkie mother, whose motherly instinct had finally kicked in, stoned state and all, and she had tried to protect her child. The mother took the bullet, but stepfather didn't take the child.
Emily tightened her arms around the baby girl, pressing the child's head to her shoulder, upper body slightly swaying back and forth in hopes of soothing the whimpering child. Emily focused on the faint wisps of breath ghosting her neck to ignore the pattern of blue and red lights twirling through the broken glass of the mirror in front of her.
The room was in shambles, the air stale and stinking of urine and other elements that had no place around a newborn; things like death and blood and a motherless upbringing. Versed in the later, Emily covered the little girl's ears, a futile attempt of keeping away the sirens and the sounds of violence from where they were never meant to be.
Soles crunching broken glass made Emily look up to the broken mirror. Agent Morgan was coming into the room, earpiece and Kevlar vest on, gun drawn even if danger was no longer imminent: he had made sure of that, shooting the stepfather dead, putting an end to the family that should have never been.
Agent Morgan offered Emily a brief nod before holstering his gun and approaching the sorry excuse for an armchair Emily and the baby were sharing.
"How is she?"
Filthy, underweight, traumatized.
"In desperate need of a change."
More than a diaper and Emily's protection could provide. They should have been able to have done more. The baby, any baby, was worthy of more.
Lips stretched into a wan and understanding smile, Agent Morgan squatted down in front of Emily, large fingers charting the wisps of hair covering the child's forehead. "Perhaps that's what this ordeal was supposed to bring."
"What do you mean?"
Agent Morgan looked around, as if presenting evidence A, B and C in the stained walls, leaking ceiling and broken furniture of the unkempt house. Finally he landed open eyes and the certainty that everything would be okay directly at Emily. "Some change."
"But that's just the beginning, isn't it?" Emily whispered at the now sleeping child. Even in sleep the bony and dirty little fingers didn't let go of Emily's blue issued FBI jacket. "Child Service, a warden of the state, foster parents. No child should go through this."
The stepfather was a murderer on the run, but he had wanted his daughter the same time the mother decided her child was too precious to live in constant danger with the stepfather.
In the end both parents had done their best to shield their child. It was more than Emily ever had while growing up.
"And maybe through all this they will find her some loving family, a real home," Agent Morgan said.
His serenity startled Emily. She was getting used to him, to everyone on the team. Impressive was the word she had used to tag and compartmentalize Agent Morgan. He was an impressive man. Once in action, everything about him – his height, his attitude, his dedication – was tangible proof that he was the man who would acknowledge no peril if there was a job to be done or someone to be protected. Without the danger lurking around, the fierceness would still be there, only more tamed and coated with a different kind of caring, of compassion.
Emily smiled down at the sleeping baby, allowing Agent Morgan to believe for the both of them and for the child.
Three successive knocks on wood made Emily look up to the mirror to find Agent Reid awkwardly staring back at them from the doorway.
"Child Service is here," he said sounding more like he was offering an apology than following protocol to inform them Baby Girl was one step from facing the rest of her life.
"Thanks, kid," Agent Morgan said, standing up. "Could you flag them here?" Agent Reid quickly nodded in knowledge and left, without a doubt to do what he was asked.
"I'll tell them to bring some diapers," Agent Morgan said, fingers squeezing her shoulder before he left. Emily wasn't in need of the support, but she appreciated the gesture.
This child was going to have the second chance Emily never got to have, the chance she herself once was obliged to deny.
But this baby could take comfort in the almost forgotten lullaby Emily had longed to have her own mother humming when Emily was a child.
Sing Emily did, thumbing smooth cheeks stained with dried tears. She was not the child's mother, but she would have to do. Until Child Service got into the room, she would have to do.
Continue in Part 2